By Tananarive Due
Herald Staff Writer

Tuesday nights usually are group therapy nights for the children at Health Crisis Network in Miami. Sometimes, that can mean tears. But not this night. It's a night of music. Guitars strum soulfully, and voices young and old blend to create a sound as courageous and hopeful as it is melancholy. Give me your hand, child, my eyes are waking; Give me your hand, child, my heart is breaking.

The song is called "The Gift," South Florida musicians' way of addressing a growing problem in South Florida: children affected by AIDS. Miami singer Diane Ward wrote the song to benefit Health Crisis Network's Riccardia Children's Program, which was started about a year and a half ago. It was named for Riccardia Palmer-Michel, who died of AIDS complications in 1992, a month shy of her fifth birthday.

Last week, at a Valentine's Day Party at HCN, 5050 Biscayne Blvd., Ward and other musicians plus dozens of Riccardia children sang "The Gift" and shot part of a music video that will be used to promote awareness of the problem. Ward and more than 50 other musicians recorded the 5 1/2 minute song last fall. The cassette single went on sale in Spec's stores in December, and about 600 copies have been sold so far at $4 apiece. "The Gift" also will be sold at this year's AIDS WALK Miami, Sunday at South Pointe Park in Miami Beach.

The Riccardia Program, which organizers say is the only one of its kind in Florida, focuses on the emotional trauma that hits children affected by HIV and AIDS. Though only a few of the 70 children in the program are infected, all have family members with the virus. By 2000, Health Crisis Network estimates, there will be 4,900 AIDS orphans in Dade County. And Dade's 352 pediatric AIDS cases for children under 13 is second in the country behind New York City. In Broward, there are about 163 cases of AIDS-infected children. The Riccardia Program is a natural draw for her, Ward says.

"It was really appealing because I love kids," says Ward, 32, who searched for a charity to embrace last year as a project in a self-expression and leadership course at Hollywood's Landmark Education Corp., which offers personal development courses.

Ward, a fixture on the local music scene, called friends together to help out. Other soloists include Rene Alvarez (from Forget the Name and Sixo), John Camacho (The Goods), Paul Isaac (Muse) and Matthew Sabatella (a bassist for Ward's band). They recorded the song with the help of sponsors and donations.

Video Sponsors

Alex Moreno, a Miami educator and writer, wrote a script for a music video he's shooting for use as a public service announcement. He, too, is looking for sponsors to cover the editing costs. HCN staffers got the idea for the kids' program while baby-sitting for HIV-infected parents who came for counseling.

"Most of the parents are extremely worried about their kids," says Cathy Lynch, the not-for-profit corporation's executive director. "We were finding, more and more, the parents coming to us saying, 'Somebody has to talk to my kid. Help me.'"

The program, which costs $100,000 a year, targets ages 3 to 18. The children receive individual counseling, then have group therapy on Tuesday nights in conjunction with their parents' sessions. Younger children are divided into two play therapy groups, in which they express fears and frustrations through drawings or doll houses; older children have group rap sessions.

One of the main issues for the kids is, 'Who's going to take care of me?'" says Zaida Gastillo, the program director. "One of the biggest fears is to feel abandoned. Adults can't deal with that, so can you imagine kids?"

The youngest children are often upset because their mothers are sick and can't spend much time with them, Castillo says. Older children feel overwhelmed because of the responsibilities that will fall to them.

"They feel that the expectation is that they'll be taking care of the parent, and they're not emotionally prepared for that," Castillo says.

"AIDS education is just as important. As you work with them in terms of their coping skills and managing the impact of AIDS in the household, you also work with education them so they won't put themselves at risk," Castillo says.

Dealing with Stress

One mother who wishes HCN had offered the program earlier is Riccardia's mother, Alvia Palmer-Michel, now a receptionist at HCN. Her husband, Richard Michel, died of AIDS in 1989, and she and Riccardia were diagnosed after he got sick. "Trying to deal with AIDS and trying to tell the child is very stressful, " says Palmer-Michel, 35. She says she's glad the program bearing her child's name is helping families, and she likes "The Gift", but it give her pause for reflection. Moren's self-imposed deadline to finish shooting the video is March 6, the third anniversary of Riccardia's death. Once completed, the video will include footage of Riccardia taken by WCIX Channel 6. "With the video, it's like her memory, and she's there forever on video, but it's still sad, too. It's bringing it all up again."

Reprinted with permission of The Miami Herald,
February 23, 1995. Miami, Florida.